Laghavi Pahwa
“Sustainable development requires human ingenuity. People are the most important resource.”- Dan Shechtman
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast Fashion essentially means manufacturing and selling economical and chic designs of clothing at a bargain price in comparison to luxury brands which sell their products at exorbitant prices that cannot be accessed by the masses easily. For instance, in 2019, Kim Kardashian wore a vintage Thierry Mugler dress which was replicated and sold the very next day on a fast-fashion company called Fashion Nova for only $49.99.[1] Other fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M have been around for several years and they are extremely popular as they cater to the insatiable appetite of the general public by providing the latest designs, sometimes even knockoffs, at a reasonable cost. But along with the rapid production and demand for clothing, we also need to consider its impact on the environment. How ethically these brands source their raw materials, the work environment provided for the factory workers, waste disposal, animal cruelty etc. are some questions to be concerned about.
Relationship between Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
In the most rudimentary words, sustainability means focusing on the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.[2] The significant increase in the world’s population has also lead to an increase in the demands of the consumer and sustainability helps us to maintain the consumption of resources required to satisfy these demands without compromising on the needs of the future. Sustainable fashion is a movement, a way of doing business, in which the entire life cycle of a garment from the stage of procuring the raw materials till it is manufactured and sold, takes into consideration the socio-economic and environmental factors which benefits the society at large. Schedule VII (iv) of the Companies Act, 2013 states that Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) will include activities that ensure environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna, agroforestry, conservation of natural resources and maintaining quality of soil, air and water.[3] CSR basically means giving back to the stakeholders of the company which includes the employees, consumers and the community at large and have a positive impact on the environment. It is an obligation upon the companies to use their profits towards fulfilling the goals of sustainable development and CSR is a broader concept than sustainability because it not focuses merely on sustainability but also on the relationship between the company and its stakeholders and the consumers. The National Voluntary Guidelines on Social Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business, 2011 were recently amended in 2019 to inculcate the global changes and sustainable development goals which stimulate businesses to achieve these goals while keeping in mind its stakeholders.[4] So technically these companies are not bound by law to be sustainable while producing or manufacturing their products but they have to carry out CSR activities with the profits they earn usually done in association with registered non-governmental organizations, trusts or societies. Here, Corporate Sustainability (‘CS’) comes into play. CS focuses on environmental factors while actually earning. It helps the companies to take one step forward towards the goal of sustainable development. Despite their pragmatic differences, both CSR and CS focus on the sustainability of the environment and economy and follow the triple bottom line approach, a theory that recommends the companies to focus on profit, people and planet instead of focusing on just one bottom line[5], so one may say that the two are now converging. [6]
Greenwash – Misleading Advertisements
Greenwashing is extremely prevalent these days. It is a practice of making uncorroborated and misleading claims about the sustainability or the ‘greenness’ of the products sold.[7] Companies claim to be more sustainable than they really are just to increase their sales.[8] For instance, H&M provides discounts to consumers on the purchase of new clothes if they return their old clothing items.[9] However, the question remains as to whether it is really helping the environment if one just gets incentivized to purchase more clothes that one may not even need. Besides this, a lot of companies have introduced their eco-friendly, sustainable clothing lines, but the truth of it all is that terms like ‘eco-friendly’, ‘sustainable’, ‘organic’, ‘green’ have no legal definition or a specific criterion which needs to be fulfilled to be labelled as eco-friendly or sustainable, so the brands use labels which are misleading and create ambiguity for the consumers while selling them the idea of being responsible. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 defines such misleading advertisements for the first time as any false description or guarantee given for a product or service[10] and also imposes a penalty for such an act. For instance, H&M has a line called ‘Conscious Collection’[11] which is the brands effort towards sustainability but there is a lack of information for the consumers about how exactly the products of this line are different from the rest of the collection.[12] Now, penalty can be imposed on brands which falsely advertise their products to increase their sales. One way to prevent this is by introducing a certified mark or stamp for sustainable products, similar to the way there is a hallmark stamp on jewellery which ensures the consumers about the standard of purity. This will ensure that only genuine sustainable products are being sold and are not termed as sustainable only for the sake of it.
How Fast Fashion is Affecting our Environment?
As of 2015, the textile industry was yielding almost 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse carbon commissions annually, which is more than what maritime shipping and international flights produce if combined.[13] So essentially, the clothes we carry in our suitcase during a flight journey are more harmful for the environment than the operation of the flight itself. The problem begins with the raw material being used for production. For instance, in a developing country like India, growing one kg of cotton requires 22,500 litres of water and the water being consumed for growing cotton either gets contaminated or evaporated and cannot be used again.[14] Another aspect is the question on ethical sourcing of these resources. Just recently, H&M, Muji, Uniqlo, Adidas and other companies came under the radar for allegedly using the Uighur minority as forced labor in Xinjiang, China for sourcing cotton.[15] Other concerning factors are the use of chemicals and waste disposals. The Citarum River in Indonesia is one of the most polluted rivers in the world because textile factories dispose of their waste into the river ultimately affecting the marine life and the people living near it.[16] Even in Madhya Pradesh, viscose factories have contaminated the groundwater with their waste.[17] So this industry is not only exhausting the resources but also destroying what is remaining.
Existing Laws to Combat such Conditions
In India, most of the laws are industry-specific unlike Bolivia which created “The Law of Rights of Mother Earth” which grants the planet legal rights.[18] Labor Laws cover the poor working situations of the labors by imposing conditions on the employers, ensures that minimum wages are the paid. Laws against sexual harassment of women at workplace, maternity benefits are also there to benefit the women. There are other legislations to protect the water and environment as well which impose sanctions on its violation. But the actual problem is the non-compliance with these laws rather than the non-existence of such laws because most of the countries in the world have adopted rules and regulations to meet the sustainable development goals. Even though there are laws to protect the employees, there have been instances of poor treatment of labors in factories in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, that too by multinational brands.[19] Another fashion retailer, Boohoo was recently alleged to be having substandard working conditions especially during COVID-19 and for paying below minimum wages to the workers in Leicester.[20] It’s the non-adherence to these rules which is a problem as deforestation, disposal of toxins in an inefficient manner, forced labor etc. still persist. There needs to be a shift on the enforcement and implementation of these laws.
Way forward towards a Sustainable Environment
Regardless of US President Trump’s opinion on climate change as “mythical” or “non-existent”[21], it very much exists and addressing it is the need of the hour by adopting more sustainable methods, especially by industries like the textile industry which negatively impacts the environment. No doubt sustainability is expensive in comparison to sourcing material in mass and through cheaper alternatives. India has been ahead of its time in its production of khadi material which is one of the most sustainable materials as it has zero carbon footprint, requires no machines and the least amount of water for its production.[22] So if we see, sustainability and CSR have the same goal but the difference lies in the actual meaning itself as CSR activities are related to the utilization of the profits and not on how these profits are earned. So one can conclude that despite having the same ulterior motive, it is not a company’s CSR to be sustainable. In order to carry out CSR activities with a more sustainable outlook, brands can collaborate with other brands with a specific mission like reusing leftover fabric. For instance, Adidas had collaborated with Stella McCartney and Parley for the Oceans. Both these collaborations were appreciated by the consumers as they considered sustainability while manufacturing and were not merely greenwashing. [23]
The issue of poor enforcement and non-implementation of Environmental laws can be improved by establishing specialized agencies specially to overlook the enforcement and implementation of the provisions of Environmental laws by carrying out regular checks and surveys at the factories, plants which are carrying out textile related work. Such collected data should be recorded and reviewed by the agency and actions must be taken based on the data. Along with this, stricter penalties can be imposed on the brands which are violating the laws. Even though we have National Green Tribunal which deals with environmental matters, problems persist as despite being established for several years, no considerable effort has been made by the government to appoint experts to deal with complex matters like nuclear and hazardous waste. The government can take an initiative to provide for the appointment of the necessary expertise, human resources and allot additional financial support. This will certainly improve the efficiency of the Tribunal and result in better implementation of the laws. Guidelines can be made specifically to deal with the issues arising due to the activities of the textile industries which will give a basic structure and pointers to the brands to keep in mind while carrying out their activities. The companies need to adopt a more proactive approach in order to contribute positively. For instance, companies can aim to only obtain organic cotton which is ethically sourced to manufacture clothes. One of the most convenient ways to contribute is called thrift shopping or thrifting, a concept which is more prevalent in the USA and not so much in India yet.[24] There are stores or flea markets which sell old and used clothing items at a much lesser cost than the actual price.[25] This concept actually helps to reduce the amount of clothes being manufactured, leaves no carbon footprint and it essentially requires no new natural resource. Brands should be encouraged to give away their unsold merchandise to charities or thrift stores instead of simply burning clothes worth billions of dollars.[26] Even by using our clothes for a few more months and buying secondhand clothes, individually we can contribute towards sustainability. Even luxury brands like Burberry have now stated that their aim is to be carbon neutral by the year 2022.[27] So, by taking small and genuine steps the impact on the environment will be much more positive and it will be possible to conserve the resources for future generations at least to some extent.
The author, Laghavi Pahwa, is currently a law student at the School of Law, Manipal University Jaipur.
[1] Chavie Lieber, Kim Kardashian’s love-hate relationship with fast fashion, explained, Vox (Feb 26, 2019), https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/26/18241625/kim-kardashian-fast-fashion-fashion-nova-missguided
[2] Mitchell Grant, Sustainability Investopedia (Apr 05, 2020), https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sustainability.asp
[3] Schedule VII (iv) of the Companies Act, 2013, http://ebook.mca.gov.in/Actpagedisplay.aspx?PAGENAME=17923
[4] Ministry of Corporate Affairs Report of the High Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility 2018, Government of India (2019) https://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/CSRHLC_13092019.pdf
[5] Will Kenton, Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Investopedia (Jan 31, 2020) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triple-bottom-line.asp
[6] Ivan Montiel, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Sustainability: Separate Pasts, Common Futures (Dec, 2008)
[7] Will Kenton, ‘Greenwashing’, Investopedia (Jan 30, 2020) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/greenwashing.asp
[8] Adryan Corcione, ‘What is Greenwashing?’, Business News Daily (Jan 17, 2020) https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10946-greenwashing.html
[9] Dusty Baxter Wright, ‘9 companies that reward you for donating unwanted things, from H&M to M&M’, Cosmopolitan (Feb 15, 2019) https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/worklife/g15049323/brands-reward-throwing-things-away/
[10] Section 2(28) of The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019
[11] Conscious products explained, H&M https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/ladies/shop-by-feature/conscious-products-explained.html#:~:text=CONSCIOUS%20PRODUCTS%20EXPLAINED,price%20in%20a%20sustainable%20way.&text=To%20qualify%20for%20a%20green,garments%20contain%20more%20than%20that.
[12] Zara Ramaniah, H&M’s Greenwashing: Short-Sighted and Unethical, Branding Mag (Dec 12, 2019) https://www.brandingmag.com/2019/12/12/hms-greenwashing-short-sighted-and-unethical/
[13] Kiran Pandey, Fashion industry may use quarter of world’s carbon budget by 2050 (Jul 19, 2018) https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/environment/fashion-industry-may-use-quarter-of-world-s-carbon-budget-by-2050-61183
[14] Stephen Leahy, World Water Day: the cost of cotton in water-challenged India, The Guardian (Mar 20, 2015) https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/20/cost-cotton-water-challenged-india-world-water-day
[15] Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Xinjiang cotton sparks concern over ‘forced labour’ claims, BBC News (Nov 13, 2019) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50312010
[16] Dikanaya Tarahita and Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, Indonesia’s Citarum: The World’s Most Polluted River, The Diplomat (Apr 28, 2018)
https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/indonesias-citarum-the-worlds-most-polluted-river/
[17] Ben Chapman, H&M, Zara, M&S and others found buying from highly polluting factories in Asia, Independent (Jun 13, 2017) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/h-and-m-zara-marks-spencer-clothes-supply-chain-pollution-factories-asia-a7786716.html
[18] 11 fascinating environmental protections and laws around the world, Business Insider India (Apr 27, 2019)
[19] Sophie Perryer, Fashion industry seeks to shake bad reputation with CSR initiatives, European CEO (Apr 12, 2019) https://www.europeanceo.com/business-and-management/fashion-industry-seeks-to-shake-bad-reputation-with-csr-initiatives/
[20] Phillip Inman, Boohoo must take fashion more seriously after factory scandal, The Guardian (Jul 8, 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/08/boohoo-fashion-factory-retailer-uk
[21] Trump on climate change report: ‘I don’t believe it’, BBC News (Nov 26, 2018) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46351940
[22] FE Bureau, From zero carbon footprint to being sustainable, here’s why you should embrace khadi, Financial Express (Oct 02, 2016) https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/from-zero-carbon-footprint-to-being-sustainable-heres-why-you-should-embrace-khadi/400934/
[23] Ryan Moschetti, Corporate Social Responsibility in the Fashion Industry, PR Lab – Boston University (Mar 25, 2019) https://www.bu.edu/prlab/2019/03/25/corporate-social-responsibility-in-the-fashion-industry/
[24] Servjaeta, Thrift Stores: A new buzz in Indian start-up space?, The Marketing Insights (Sep 13, 2017) https://themarketinginsights.com/2017/09/13/thrift-stores-new-buzz-indian-start-space/
[25] What does it mean to go thrifting?, Goodwill https://www.goodwillaz.org/what-does-it-mean-to-go-thrifting-2/#:~:text=Simply%20put%2C%20thrifting%20means%20to,used%20items%20at%20discounted%20prices.
[26] Chavie Lieber, Why fashion brands destroy billions’ worth of their own merchandise every year, Vox (Sep 17, 2018) https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/17/17852294/fashion-brands-burning-merchandise-burberry-nike-h-and-m
[27] Trace Willian Cowen, Burberry Unveils Climate Change Goals as Part of Initiative to Become Carbon Neutral by 2022, Complex (Jun 26, 2019) https://www.complex.com/style/2019/06/burberry-climate-change-carbon-neutral-2022
The Journal of Indian Law and Society 